


So I'll Stay Unforgiven (and I'll Sleep Close to Heaven)

by Huntress8611



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abner Needs a Hug, Aftermath of Torture, Angel Wings, Crying, Flashbacks, Gadreel Needs a Hug (Supernatural), Good Person Gadreel (Supernatural), Heaven, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Pain, Panic Attacks, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Torture, Whump, Wingfic, Wings, don't ask me why i love them i just do, heaven's jail, i love these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28688211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress8611/pseuds/Huntress8611
Summary: “Abner,” he whispered, reaching for the other angel as soon as the door to their cell slammed shut.Abner groaned when Gadreel’s hand landed on his shoulder. He tried to push himself up off the ground, but was unable to, and he collapsed with a small scream.(Alternate Summary: A snapshot of Abner and Gadreel's time in Heaven's jail.)
Relationships: Abner & Gadreel (Supernatural)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	So I'll Stay Unforgiven (and I'll Sleep Close to Heaven)

**Author's Note:**

> Is this an accurate representation of Heaven’s jail? Probably not. Do I give a singular shit? No, no I do not. Is this OOC? Probably. Do I care? Nope. I do what I want. (That’s a pretty good description of this fic, “I do what I want.” This is entirely self indulgent. It can be as inaccurate as I desire.)
> 
> I don’t understand why I got emotionally attached to these two and their relationship. Like,,, Gadreel is hated by a large part of the fandom (which is completely valid, he did a lot of fucked up shit) and Abner was only actually present in one episode and referenced in maybe two others? _Please why can’t I stop getting emotionally invested in characters that barely have any screen time and/or are shitty people-_
> 
> The title of this work is an edited part of the song Close to Heaven by Breaking Benjamin.

“Abner,” he whispered, reaching for the other angel as soon as the door to their cell slammed shut.

Abner groaned when Gadreel’s hand landed on his shoulder. He tried to push himself up off the ground, but was unable to, and he collapsed with a small scream.

Gadreel quickly grabbed him and pulled him away from the door, into the back corner of the cell they shared. They couldn’t truly hide anywhere, but being in the corner, out of sight of anyone walking past, felt safer, even if that safety was just an illusion.

Abner let out another, louder scream when he was moved, his wounds pulling and causing him immense pain.

“Shh, shh, stay quiet,” he said, quickly putting a hand over the other angel’s mouth to muffle his cries.

“Sorry,” Abner said after a few moments, his voice muffled by Gadreel’s hand.

“It’s okay,” he said, pulling away his hand and gathering the other into his arms. “It’s okay.”

Abner pressed his face into Gadreel’s shoulder, muffling a sob.

“I’m so sorry, I hate that he does this to you, I wish he’d just take me again-” Gadreel muttered, mostly to himself. He reached out with what little grace he had, pushing it to Abner in an attempt to heal him, at least a little.

Abner could feel the grace rushing through him like a cooling balm, and he sighed in relief. It could only fix some of the damage, but he would take what he could get.

Gadreel gently ran a hand over the arch of one of Abner’s destroyed wings, a miniscule smile appearing on his face at the contented noise that the other angel made. He moved to card his fingers through the feathers, just gently stroking them. He felt him relax more, and he slowly changed to actually grooming his wings, straightening feathers rather than just smoothing them down.

When he found the first feather that was too damaged to save, that needed to be removed, he tensed up. He knew from experience just how much pulling a feather hurt, and he hated that he had to put Abner through that, especially since he knew he’d have to do it again quite a few times. If he ever got out of here, he’d kill Thadeuss for what he’d done to him.

Gadreel shifted a hand to hold the other angel’s head against his shoulder and brought his own wings up and used them to envelop Abner as best he could without blocking his access to his wings.

“I’m sorry for this,” he murmured as he quickly pulled out the feather as gently as he could.

Abner managed to mostly hold back his screams, not wanting to attract attention to them. He absolutely hated this, but the few times that he’d stopped Gadreel from pulling his torn up, broken, and unsalvageable feathers, the new ones had started to come in incorrectly, or worse.

He wrapped his arms around Gadreel and dug his nails into his back, his wings, wherever he could reach. Gadreel winced, but did his best to ignore it, going back to softly smoothing out the feathers until the tension began to drain out of the other angel. After that happened, he repeated the process, though this time there were many feathers in the same place, and he pulled them out quickly, one after the other, holding Abner as tightly as he could with his other arm and his wings.

After a few more minutes of this, it seemed that Abner had reached his mental limit. He screamed, and Gadreel was so glad that the feather he’d just pulled had been the last he needed to.

He needed to quiet Abner before Thadeuss or another guard came to see what the noise was about. It had happened a few times, one of their screams annoying him, and when it did, Thadeuss would come back and take the screaming angel and torture him more. He couldn’t let that happen, he just couldn’t.

“Abner, please,” he said, as loudly as he dared, but the loud, screaming sobs didn’t stop, so Gadreel gathered his strength and reached out to Abner with his grace.

It took every ounce of strength he had left. It was difficult to use grace in Heaven’s jail, and Gadreel had already healed Abner, but he managed it, and it worked. While he hadn’t been able to get through to him previously, he could like this.

Abner could feel something twining around his grace, and focused on it just long enough to realize it was another angel, a good one, someone trying to help him. He quieted for a moment and stopped struggling against his bindings, allowing the strange grace to wrap fully around his own.

The other angel’s grace felt familiar,  _ safe _ . He knew this grace, had felt it before, but his mind was hazy with pain and he couldn’t place it. It soothed his pain as much as it could. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give him some clarity.

“Gadreel,” he said quietly. It was Gadreel. He wasn’t with Thadeuss, being tortured, and he wasn’t bound, either. What he’d mistaken for restraints in his pained and panicked state were Gadreel’s arms and wings, trying to hold him steady, to keep him from injuring himself.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m sorry. Some of the feathers that I had to pull, they…” his words trailed off.

Abner got the idea. Some types of feathers were much more sensitive than others, as were the different parts of a wing. It must have simply been too much for him to handle. He felt Gadreel’s hand return to his wings, as gently as was physically possible.

“There are no more for me to pull. You can relax.”

Instantly Abner felt himself do just that. Knowing that he didn’t need to be bracing himself as a hand ran across his feathers made it much easier to relax. There wasn’t any further pain coming, he didn’t need to be afraid of that.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “For helping me, I mean. For putting me back together.”

“You would do the same for me. You have done so,” Gadreel reminded him.

“I know, but thank you anyway. I don’t- I don’t know what I’d be like if I was stuck in here alone, so thank you.”

“Of course.”


End file.
